FOUAD A-L. H. ABOU-HATAB

Fouad A-L. H. Abou-Hatab (born 1935) received a PhD from the University of
London in 1967. A specialist in educational psychology, assessment, cognitive
processes, and experimental psychology, he is the author of 5 books and more than
30 journal articles. His book Mental Abilities, now in its fourth edition, won
the Egyptian State Prize in Psychology.

Abou-Hatab is editor-in-chief of the Egyptian Yearbook of Psychologyand
holds two other editorial positions for international journals. He has served as a
UNESCO consultant for the gifted and talented, as chief consultant in personnel
selection for Islamic Banks, and as chief researcher for a study of psychological
and educational research in Egypt. Abou-Hatab has also been president of the
Egyptian Association for Psychological Studies since 1984 and was awarded the
Medal of Science and Arts by the president of Egypt. He is professor of educational
psychology in the College of Education, Ain-Shams University, Cairo.

When Egypt became part of the Muslim world in the 7th cen-
tury, classical institutions for Islamic general education were introduced.
The small, one-teacher, multilevel school called Kottab was used for children;
mosques were used for adolescents and adults. In some of these mosques
sophisticated Islamic and Arabic knowledge was taught. With the establish-
ment of formal colleges, philosophy, the womb of psychology and other
human sciences, was introduced. Eventually, philosophy became a great
Islamic endeavor. Throughout the period from the 9th to the 12th centuries,
great names such as Al-Kindi ( 796-873), Al-Razi ( 865-925), Al-Farabi ( 878-
950), Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037), Al-Ghazali ( 1058-1111), and Ibn Rushd
(Averroes, 1126-98) dominated the scene. Although most of them were
from parts of the Muslim world other than Egypt, they influenced Egyptian
Islamic culture. Their impact on the Western Middle Ages and the Renais-
sance is well documented, although their contribution to modern scientific
psychology has not been recognized by historians of psychology, with the
exception of Brett ( 1921).

The Al-Azhar mosque was founded in Cairo in the 10th century but was

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